The Malaysian Insight

THE vigilante group Badar Squad has threatened to take its operations nationwide unless authorities impose stricter controls over budget hotels and massage parlours, which the group says are dens for vice activities.

They want local councils and state authorities to ensure that Muslim couples stop frequenting such premises in search of cheap sex and other vice-related activities.

The controversial group’s leader Azhaar Mohamad, told reporters in Alor Star today, that they would set up branches nationwide and carry out raids even in popular tourist destinations like Jalan Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur.

“We urge the authorities to come up with proper laws and guidelines to regulate such places, to ban Muslims from entering such premises,” said Azhaar.

“If the authorities ignore this, then the Badar Squad will help them curb such activities, not only in Sungai Petani, Kedah but also in Jalan Bukit Bintang which is a hotbed for vice activities.

The Badar Squad, which has around 40 members, has for the last two years, carried out raids on budget hotels and massage parlours in Sungai Petani to haul up Muslim couples believed to be engaged in sin. 

Those caught committing khalwat are taken to a cemetery to receive counselling. Azhaar had previously said that the squad had nabbed “hundreds of couples”.

Azhaar said the group lodges a police report prior to the raids, to inform the authorities of what it was going to do.

The state’s religious authorities and police, however, have declared the group illegal, saying it is not empowered to carry out raids or act as the moral police.

Police say lodging a police report before a raid does not constitute approval from the authorities.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa had said that any religious enforcement exercise must stay within the limits of the law, adding that those who take the law into their own hands in the name of Islam have tarnished their good deeds and intentions.

Legal rights group, Lawyers for Liberty, said the Badar Squad has no jurisdiction to act as the moral police and accused them of undermining the rule of law.

The group’s executive director Latheefa Koya said that the fact police had yet to stop such “mob rule shows pure neglect and complicity”.

Azhaar said the group’s actions are not excessive, as alleged by some quarters, and that they were only helping Muslims stay away from vice activities.

He added that checks around Sungai Petani revealed that religious authorities rarely carried out raids at budget hotels and massage parlours.

“Hotel operators themselves told us that religious authorities would only come twice a year. The Badar Squad conducts raids four times a week,” Azhaar said.

“We are simply assisting the local councils and state religious department.”

He said the Badar Squad is also willing to meet those who have accused them of being too excessive in their actions.

“Bringing those we caught to the cemetery for counselling is hardly excessive. This is because we have always informed their parents first,” Azhaar said. – November 22, 2018.